SB 63: Time To Let Folks Buy Beer Directly From Craft Breweries

Georgia likes craft beer, and Georgia is experiencing a boom in craft breweries. It’s a similar experience Chattanooga (and frankly, a lot of other states in the South) has…except, in Georgia, you can’t buy beer directly from the brewery. That means, going to your favorite beer store and hoping that they actually carry the malty adult beverage that you wish to enjoy.

Jon did an article outlining that beer brewing is a big business in our great state, but the three tier system (brewery, distributor, and retailer) makes it difficult for small batch craft breweries to get off the ground. There’s got to be a better way! Creative Loafing highlighted the issue and noted the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild set off to encourage the General Assembly change the law GABeerJobs.com. Last week, a bill finally dropped in the Senate hopper: SB 63 — the “Beer Jobs Bill”, as it was named by the Guild.

It’s an untapped market, so to speak. Georgia is surrounded by states that allow visitors to buy brewed beer on-premises of the brewery. It’s time that Georgia catch up with our neighbors and remove the restraints from these small business owners.

Bonus: Editor-Emeritus Erick Erickson did an interview with Senator Hunter Hill on SB 63 last night.

Cutting out or making optional the middleman is fine by me but calling it a jobs bill makes me very suspicious. The idea was not to sort out distributor jobs and craft jobs but give customers access to the beer they want.